Author Topic: DOTD  (Read 210789 times)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #125 on: 22 September, 2014, 12:42:26 pm »
I thought "Get a room!" was standard operating procedure language in such instances.

They're teenagers.  The whole reason they're snogging on the cyclepath is that they can't get a room.

Barakta and I once famously encountered some on a very exposed bench on the Rea Valley path under cover of winter darkness.  We rode past without comment, on the basis that being lit up by our combined FRIKKIN LASERS was embarrassing enough.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #126 on: 22 September, 2014, 03:01:01 pm »
I thought "Get a room!" was standard operating procedure language in such instances.

They're teenagers.  The whole reason they're snogging on the cyclepath is that they can't get a room.

Barakta and I once famously encountered some on a very exposed bench on the Rea Valley path under cover of winter darkness.  We rode past without comment, on the basis that being lit up by our combined FRIKKIN LASERS was embarrassing enough.

I once ran over an older amorous couple in Sutton Park.

I was with one of my uni friends and we were having a day of whizzing round the bush trails that cross all over the place, highlights had been such wonders as discovering there is a bog in Sutton Park and the shop running out of ice cream. However as I came hurtling around a bend on a lovely bramble sided slope there across the path was a very naked lady upon a slightly undressed man, I couldn't stop quick enough and I'm not sure who screamed more me or them but I remember going over the handlebars thinking, well this is unusual.

Thankfully no one seriously hurt, I had to bail because my knees no longer worked terribly well after using them as a landing device. The couple didn't hang around very long, so I suspect they probably were not a item, I imagine the cuts and bruises might be hard to explain to their actual partners.
Somewhat of a professional tea drinker.


Re: DOTD
« Reply #127 on: 24 September, 2014, 08:55:20 am »
Driving down Tring Hill last evening on the way home, the MAMIL in red and white that came out of the Wendover junction on the left without looking or slowing. So far so usual, then he takes primary, also fine. I pass and pull back in. Out of habit I check my mirrors in time to see him swerve violently to his right to avoid a rough patch - straight into the path of the car about to pass him. Eeek! He was completely oblivious of the traffic, and maybe thought 25mph was fast enough that he didn't need to worry it. he was wrong.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Otto

  • Biking Bad
Re: DOTD
« Reply #128 on: 24 September, 2014, 10:57:31 am »
Every cyclist in front of me in the rain to tody who didn't have a mudguard.>>>> GRRRRRRRRRRR

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #129 on: 25 September, 2014, 09:37:04 am »
Me, yesterday, about 7 pm. I was in a hurry, which is perhaps why I forgot that earlier in the day I'd cleaned the grime off my rims and blocks and had deliberately not closed the brake quick releases, in order to aid drying... No braking at all. I live at the apex of a hill, with a give way at the bottom... So the obvious thing to do is to drag your foot on the floor. This works well enough in daps, but shiny metal on the sole of your shoe has virtually no friction. I considered running into the back of a parked car, but was going a bit fast for that. It was actually the junction that saved me, because it is very quiet and on the other side of it the road carries on in a straight line but goes up hill. So I just went straight over, didn't even look, and fortunately there was nothing - except a man pushing a bike across the other side of the road, chatting into his phone. He hadn't seen me and even if he had he would have assumed I'd stop at the junction, but now we were on a collision course. Panicked shouting from me and he stopped, probably wondering what kind of idiot I was. Managed to stop in a semi-controlled fashion.

I have never been so terrified in my life!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #130 on: 25 September, 2014, 09:52:35 am »
Me, yesterday, about 7 pm. I was in a hurry, which is perhaps why I forgot that earlier in the day I'd cleaned the grime off my rims and blocks and had deliberately not closed the brake quick releases, in order to aid drying... No braking at all. I live at the apex of a hill, with a give way at the bottom... So the obvious thing to do is to drag your foot on the floor. This works well enough in daps, but shiny metal on the sole of your shoe has virtually no friction. I considered running into the back of a parked car, but was going a bit fast for that. It was actually the junction that saved me, because it is very quiet and on the other side of it the road carries on in a straight line but goes up hill. So I just went straight over, didn't even look, and fortunately there was nothing - except a man pushing a bike across the other side of the road, chatting into his phone. He hadn't seen me and even if he had he would have assumed I'd stop at the junction, but now we were on a collision course. Panicked shouting from me and he stopped, probably wondering what kind of idiot I was. Managed to stop in a semi-controlled fashion.


I have never been so terrified in my life!


:o Glad you're OK, and that nothing was coming as you crossed the junction.

My 2 DOTDs (in a journey of less than 2 miles!) were 

1) The PCSO on a bike who was proceeding along the main road in an unorderly fashion. I was waiting on a side road with a bunch of other cycle commuters to cross the road he was on, to go straight on (it's a cross roads). He was obviously looking for a particular side road and paused, swerved, dithered, continued, paused, swerved, dithered,  continued, eventually stopping in front of us blocking our route, before continuing along the road....

2) the bloke this morning who was happily looking at his phone whilst cycling directly towards me at a fair pace in a ped/cycle only bit of road by work. A VERY curt shout of "LOOK" from me resolved the situation...  :)

not so much a gravel grinder.... more of a gravel groveller


Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #131 on: 25 September, 2014, 10:13:45 am »
Remember, kids, it's as easy as ABC: Air, Brakes, Chain.  :facepalm:

A look at the soles of my shoes now shows the left cleat to be subtly reshaped. Still works, though!



To the person I was going to nominate before my little incident, I wanted to say "Those yellow lines at the side of the road are not guide lines!" If you carry on riding with your front wheel between them, particularly where the pavement is narrow, you're going to collide with a pedestrian - you almost hit my elbow.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #132 on: 25 September, 2014, 02:05:26 pm »
I did something similar once on Whiteladies Road after borrowing a flatmate's bike.  I was in a coursework deadline hurry and hadn't considered the implications of riding a bike straight from Cambridge, as yet untested on Bristol's roads.   :facepalm:


In other DOTD news, me, yesterday:  Passing a car on the left at speed as it moved to turn right into a side-road, only then realising that it had flashed a slow-moving bus out of the junction.  Fortunately the road was dry and I was onna bent with a proliferation of well-adjusted brakes, and managed to stop in a surprisingly short distance indeed with only a little bit of fishtailing.  The bus driver was paying attention and had by then stopped in the middle of the road to wave me through, but I'd just done an emergency stop in a ~90" gear, so that wasn't happening.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: DOTD
« Reply #133 on: 25 September, 2014, 02:15:10 pm »
For future reference, resting the left heel on the chainstay and rubbing against the rear tyre in BMX kid-style is a very effective and controllable brake. Pressing a mudguard against the tyre makes little difference to whether you can ride away from the stop (yes, in my experience).
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

benborp

  • benbravoorpapa
Re: DOTD
« Reply #134 on: 26 September, 2014, 01:05:27 am »
"I didn't realize that you had laid claim to that particular piece of road."

No, I hadn't. And that isn't how I ride in any way at all. However, that particular piece of road was two inches in front of my front wheel and I was moving off from a standing start. My failed clipping in and sudden foot down resulted in an egg sized lump on my left shin and a subdued exclamation of 'Cheers.' The lump and the way you treated three other road users over the next hundred yards before jumping the lights and heading off to Clapham says you are a dick. Particularly on a day when the A23 had as many bodies sprawled over it as normal behaviour, for some inexplicable reason, normally fails to produce.
A world of bedlam trapped inside a small cyclist.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #135 on: 26 September, 2014, 01:01:42 pm »
For future reference, resting the left heel on the chainstay and rubbing against the rear tyre in BMX kid-style is a very effective and controllable brake. Pressing a mudguard against the tyre makes little difference to whether you can ride away from the stop (yes, in my experience).
I guess this is much like how the toe of a sandal makes a fairly effective front derailleur, in extremis.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: DOTD
« Reply #136 on: 26 September, 2014, 03:16:17 pm »
For future reference, resting the left heel on the chainstay and rubbing against the rear tyre in BMX kid-style is a very effective and controllable brake.

I once followed a bod on a BSO lacking such niceties of modern living as brake cables.  This was his sole means of stopping.  This was in rush hour traffic down the hill past Holloway Prison :o

I kept my distance.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Steph

  • Fast. Fast and bulbous. But fluffy.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #137 on: 29 September, 2014, 07:05:04 pm »
This morning, on the way to the quack. I saw him mounting his BSO outside the station, and thought his full waterproof hi-viz two piece suit to be rather warm for cycling. When I stopped in the ASL at the bottom of the little slope, he shot past me and through the red light. I raised my hands in despair, and looked round to see the driver behind me giving a similar gesture.

Lights change, second set are green, so I'm quickly behind POB, who then veers onto the wrong side of the road and onto the pavement, where he continued at the same speed with no regard for the street furniture-induced pinch points or the peds.

Looking behind him would have been difficult, as he had the hood of the yellow jacket pulled tight and partly over his eyes.


On a different note, riding back the same way at 2340 that night, I was going down the other little slope after the railway bridge. Coming toward me, on the other side of the road, was a man in a hi-viz vest, wearing headphones, walking backwards along the yellow lines.
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #138 on: 30 September, 2014, 10:13:09 am »
This morning, on the way to the quack. I saw him mounting his BSO outside the station, and thought his full waterproof hi-viz two piece suit to be rather warm for cycling. When I stopped in the ASL at the bottom of the little slope, he shot past me and through the red light. I raised my hands in despair, and looked round to see the driver behind me giving a similar gesture.

Lights change, second set are green, so I'm quickly behind POB, who then veers onto the wrong side of the road and onto the pavement, where he continued at the same speed with no regard for the street furniture-induced pinch points or the peds.

Looking behind him would have been difficult, as he had the hood of the yellow jacket pulled tight and partly over his eyes.


On a different note, riding back the same way at 2340 that night, I was going down the other little slope after the railway bridge. Coming toward me, on the other side of the road, was a man in a hi-viz vest, wearing headphones, walking backwards along the yellow lines.
Almost certainly not the case here, but it occurs to me this would be perfect bike-thief wear. The hood prevents identification while the whole outfit makes you look like you should be on a bike.  :(
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #139 on: 30 September, 2014, 01:18:46 pm »
Almost certainly not the case here, but it occurs to me this would be perfect bike-thief wear. The hood prevents identification while the whole outfit makes you look like you should be on a bike.  :(

Or indeed wandering around with a set of sturdy bolt cutters...

Of course, the illusion is only maintained if they don't nick a decent bike.

Guy

  • Retired
Re: DOTD
« Reply #140 on: 02 October, 2014, 08:33:50 am »
Baggy white trousers hoody on BSO slaloming roud schoolkids on the footpath as mentioned upthread no longer slaloms round schoolkids on the footpath. His tyres are so soft that all the energy he used to put into slaloming round schoolkids on the footpath is now expended just making his BSO go forwards. Still on the footpath though.
"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

fuzzy

Re: DOTD
« Reply #141 on: 02 October, 2014, 08:50:19 am »
Me :-[

Developed a cold between yesterday ride home and setting off this morning so head was a bit wishy washy. 100 yards up the road, approaching a mini roundabout, silver BMW overtakes and then slows rapidly due to traffic. I set to pass as he exits the roundabout due to more traffic on his exit. he sets off, I commit to the overtake through the roundabout, he has opted to go right round and seek an alternative route. Combined BMW and Cannondale braking prevents bloodshed.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #142 on: 02 October, 2014, 12:49:37 pm »
Cemetery Junction, Reading.

Pedestrian started crossing the side street (one way, only accessible from my direction) I was about to turn into. He had his back to me, & didn't look. So far so normal, & I was prepared. I braked & steered to go behind him, as he was clearly unaware of my presence (or that of the car behind me).  I must have registered in his peripheral vision as I went round the corner, because he suddenly stopped, looked round & stepped backwards directly into my path. So I steered the other way & passed slowly a couple of paces in front of him while he appeared poised for another step back.

I heard something about 'bloody cyclists' as I passed.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

red marley

Re: DOTD
« Reply #143 on: 04 October, 2014, 07:40:47 am »
The pedestrian would have had priority in that situation and you and any other traffic should be giving way and waiting for them to cross before turning (https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-170-to-183).

Re: DOTD
« Reply #144 on: 04 October, 2014, 11:24:57 am »
Cemetery Junction, Reading.

Pedestrian started crossing the side street (one way, only accessible from my direction) I was about to turn into. He had his back to me, & didn't look. So far so normal, & I was prepared. I braked & steered to go behind him, as he was clearly unaware of my presence (or that of the car behind me).  I must have registered in his peripheral vision as I went round the corner, because he suddenly stopped, looked round & stepped backwards directly into my path. So I steered the other way & passed slowly a couple of paces in front of him while he appeared poised for another step back.

I heard something about 'bloody cyclists' as I passed.
I have to say that this is a tough one. If, when making a turn into a side street, there's both a pedestrian crossing and a car right on your back wheel (that's not making the turn), it's hard to balance what to do.

In the same way that very occasionally I feel obliged to go through a light that I would under normal circumstances stop at, because I am sure the driver of the car behind won't also stop.
Rust never sleeps

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #145 on: 04 October, 2014, 12:20:07 pm »
I have to say that this is a tough one. If, when making a turn into a side street, there's both a pedestrian crossing and a car right on your back wheel (that's not making the turn), it's hard to balance what to do.

I tend to err on the side of highway code in such situations.  Though it invariably confuses the pedestrian, who will probably stop in the middle of the road to wait for me to make the turn and deadlock the whole thing.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #146 on: 05 October, 2014, 08:53:11 am »
The Highway Code says that you must "give way," which need not be a stop.
I try to make eye contact and position myself or maneuver (slowing down is a good tactic), so that the pedestrian realises that I have seen them and am actively avoiding them. If they dither a bit, not knowing what to do, I give a wide berth and go.
I usualy slow right down but rarely stop.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #147 on: 05 October, 2014, 03:43:06 pm »
I often actively nod pedestrians across when they are dithering, sometimes verbally. Yes, I'm aware this is in contravention of the HC. Whether I'd do it with a car behind me would probably depend on whether I thought the driver was going to stay behind me or overtake regardless.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #148 on: 05 October, 2014, 04:51:52 pm »
I was a bit of a DOTD today when making a right turn, didnt see car behind me and therefore had a close one ....
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #149 on: 05 October, 2014, 07:50:57 pm »
A conker, rolling downhill on the wrong side of Lickey Road and through the perpetually red light[1] at the car factory.  Wasn't even wearing a helmet.   :D


[1] My working theory is that the strong bias in favour of the minor road in the phasing is a cunning plan by the council to reduce speeding on that section of road by ensuring there's always a short queue of cars at the lights.